tropical storm warnings up for the south texas coast as the eighth storm of the season takes shape. the latest on hermine straight ahead. president obama heads to milwaukee with a plan for jump starting the ailing economy. it couldn't come at a more critical time. the labor day holiday marks the unofficial end of summer and the start of the election campaign season. new york to los angeles, bedbugs are biting. we are going to have your survival guide, how to find them and how to get rid of those pint-sized pets. good labor day morning to you. i'm veronica de la cruz here in new york. always nice to see you.

developing now, a new push from president obama to jump start the sputtering economy. nearly 15 million americans out of work on this labor day and the president's plan to hit the road today for a big economic week. nbc's mike viqueira joins us live from the white house. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning. it's all about the economy this week for president obama. he's set to unveil new initiatives to boost employment and help democrats in congress keep their jobs in the bargain. with summer drawing to a close, the campaign season is now in full swing. for the president, it promises to be an all-out political fight. >> i think voting tomorrow we would be doing well. >> reporter: they're on the attack against mr. obama and the party. >> he's governed from the left ditch. he turned the agenda over to the liberals in the house and here we are a few months before the election and all caught up with him. >> reporter: the number one issue, the economy. with growth still sluggish and the jobless rate high.

many democrats are in danger of losing their seats with some running away from their own leaders. >> that may not be what the washington crowd wants but i don't work for them, i work for you. >> reporter: angry voters in ohio want more presidential focus on the economy. >> we're about to lose our house and they are talking about the things to help you. >> i don't have to tell you that this is a very tough time for our country. >> reporter: this week, mr. obama will respond. today he travels to another swing state, wisconsin. for a labor day address. then in what's being touted as a major speech, the president goes to cleveland on wednesday to unveil a new plan to spur growth including more tax breaks for business and on friday, mr. obama holds a white house press conference where the economy is expected to be the major topic. >> i will be addressing a broader package of ideas. >> reporter: meanwhile, the president and his allies are

hitting back at the gop's economic record. >> they drove us into the ditch. and if we give the keys back to the people that did this, it is like giving herbert hoover the keys in the mid-1930s. >> reporter: we are learning details about what the president will unveil today in milwaukee. he travels there for a labor day picnic tacking to workers and talking about a new $50 billion investment in infrastructure. roads, railways and runways front loaded on top of the spending that was in the stimulus bill. now, none of this is likely to pass congress before they go away to run for their own reelections. but he's putting this out there to help them, something for them to point to and say democrats in washington are trying to do something about that 9.6% unemployment rate. veronica? >> all right. mike viqueira at the white house, good to see you, thank you. as we all know, a lot of folks are out of work this labor day but one journalist says there's reasons to be optimistic. joining us from "the washington post" newsroom is neil irwin,

"the washington post" financial reporter with the five reasons to be optimistic about the economy. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> listen. before we get to the top five reasons for optimism, what do you think about the infrastructure program the president is putting forth? >> it's interesting they're finally pulling out the policy guns trying to show they're doing something on the economy. we have the proposal today. on wednesday, looks like a proposal on research and development tax credit for businesses so clearly the white house is trying to show that they care, that they're worried about this economy and trying to do things to get it on track. whether it makes difference any time soon is a different story. >> exactly. let's run through the list of why you say a slow and steady recovery is likely to continue when it comes to the economy. first of all, you say that americans are saving more? >> that's right. savings rate up from 4% a few months ago to 6% now. that's part of the reason the economy's been soft because consumers aren't spending as much and also means that the

consumers are further along rebuilding the balance sheets and paying down the debts than we might have thought and sets the stage for things to be better than they otherwise would have been seeing the increase in savings. >> you think that's good news. the second reason to be optimistic is credit, the banks are starting to lend again. >> yeah. it's very slow and gradual progress but progress in the financial system. some of the banks hoarding the money and not wanting to make loans are starting to loosen up a little bit and credit is what caused this recession when credit tightened and loosening will support growth in the months ahead. >> the third reason to remain optimistic, manufacturing is actually holding up okay. >> yeah. industrial production up 1% in july. we saw a survey result just the other day showing august growth continued. truth is manufacturing sector continuing to expand production and part of what's driving this is catch up effect. we're only buying about 11 million cars a year right now. long run, americans need 13

million, 14 million, 15 million cars to keep on the road and still room for manufacturing that hasn't happened yet. >> fourth ear fifth, housing, isn't that counter to those low home sales numbers we got, first of all? trade, last one, you say that you believe the amount we export could be on the rise. explain these last two. >> yeah. so housing is, you know, sector that's collapsed so much in the last couple of years and doesn't have much further to fall. smaller part of the economy than it was a years back. 2 million housing starts to half a million and not clear to have that decline mathematically. looking at trade, that was a big drain on second quarter growth was surprising high number of imports and will level out and that will be supporter of growth as we move into 2011. >> all right. very interesting. i think we are all trying to be optimistic at this point, neil. >> we have the day off and might as well be happy about it. >> some of us are working.

all right. neil irwin, thanks. good to see you. >> thank you. watching a new storm in the gulf. tropical storm hermine formed overnight. the weather channel meteorologist scott williams here in the studio and joins us live. what does this one tell us? >> veronica, right now looking at hermine, the eighth named storm of the 2010 season and the bottom line with this, not a wind producer but it will be a rain maker. trouble here going in time for the lone star state and northern sections of mexico here. you can see on the satellite perspecti perspective, deep convection and moisture to stream inland. look at the rain bands beginning to impact south texas. tropical storm warnings posted here. hermine, maximum sustained winds at 45 miles per hour. drifting to the north at 10 miles per hour and the pressure at 999 millibars. not expected to be a tropical weather maker as we go into the latter part of the week but

certainly for now and through the midpart of the week looking for that heavy rainfall in texas flt right now around chicago, light sprinkles and wisconsin. over the next 48 hours, look at the heavy rainfall moving into south texas here. upwards of five to ten inches of rainfall for the first part of the week. quiet conditions expected through the northeast. boston, 78 degrees. philadelphia, looking good at 83. fairly quiet across much of the nation. veronica? >> scott, thanks so much. developing now. deadly car bombing in pakistan. 17 people have been killed including 4 children. 40 others wounded. it happened outside of a police station in northwestern pakistan. it's just the late nest a string of deadly suicide bombings for the country struggling to overcome record flooding. we'll talk more about this and how it's connected with colonel jack jacobs in the next half hour. still much more ahead. how does speaker boehner sound to you? the house minority leader could be next in line for the chair if

republicans win the house. will he have the same problems as speaker pelosi? a woman ambushed by a stranger that threw acid in her face. what's going on? plus, you think you've won the lottery. head to the local store to cash in and the clerk says that you are wrong. instead, he is pocketing that cash. date line's chris hand son joins us on the latest hidden camera investigation. when i was seventeen, i was not good to my skin. long summer days, and not enough sleep.

what i wouldn't do for a do-over. [ female announcer ] neutrogena® clinical skincare, exclusive ion2 complex combined with activating cream helps restore collagen depleted skin. neutrogena clinical skincare is clinically tested to undo the look of a year's worth of skin aging in just 4 weeks. do-overs do exist. [ female announcer ] clinical skincare. neutrogena. #1 dermatologist recommended brand. these are the final weeks of our summer sales event. i'm angie everhart, and i lost 34 pounds on nutrisystem. if you've been thinking of starting nutrisystem, there won't be a better time this year. this is your last chance to get our gourmet select line at our lowest price for the rest of the year. i'm marie osmond, and i lost 50 pounds on nutrisystem. i lost over 100 pounds and lowered my blood sugar on nutrisystem d. our summer sales event has a program on sale just for you, but you must act now. that's me 22 pounds ago, and i'm never going back there again.

enjoy four perfectly portioned meals a day, including fresh-frozen options. people say i look 10 years younger. i feel 10 years younger. you will not see a lower price for the rest of the year. lose weight and save money, but you must act now. these are the final weeks. hurry, now's the time and this event won't last. call... before this limited-time offer ends.

politicians are kicking their campaigns into high gear on this labor day and if the predictions hold up, minority leader john boehner could take the gavel from house speaker notary public. will we see the lawmaker who in the past shown a willingness to

work with democrats or the recent john boehner that's been a thorn in the side of president obama and the democrats? i'm joined by correspondent john decker. good to see you again. >> good to see you, veronica. >> john boehner recently making a speech blasting the obama administration. is this what we can expect if republicans regain control of the house? >> i think we'll see a more partisan, even more so, partisan tone from republicans, specifically from john boehner if he becomes the speaker of the house. he worked in the lawmakers like the late senator ted kennedy. he's going to have some new members come in, tea party activists and these folks really don't want to work with democrats it seems on just about anything. the republicans going forward are going to have a detailed agenda, not a contract with america, but i think that detailed agenda isn't going to look like we have seen in the

past few years under democratic rule. >> let's talk about those more conservative members of the party. the tea party members, if you will. how would boehner go about navigating those waters? >> well, i think that he's reaching out to those members right now. he is going around the country in the same vein that president obama is going around the country, raising money for those perspective, new republican house members and he understands that these members are considerably more conservative than some of the members that are in the house right now and he understands that to be the leader of the full house but specifically to be the leader of republicans he's got to listen to his own constituents, the people that put him in power and will be a very conservative house speaker if, indeed, he becomes house speaker come next year after the november 2nd elections. >> do you see republicans pushing for bold initiatives like in 1994 with newt gingrich? >> no, i really don't.

i think they're general in terms of what they would like to do taking control of the house of representatives and likely to see initiatives relating to cutting spending, cutting the deficit, cutting down on illegal immigration and of course we have heard so much about rolling back health care, the reforms that were passed this past year. i think that that's going to be the focus. we have also heard some more conservative members of the house talk about investigating various aspects of the obama administration. looking backwards essentially over the actions taken over the past two years and i think that john boehner will have a difficult job keeping the members in check to investigate actions of the obama administration rather than pushing forward legislation that would create jobs. after all, it is john boehner saying over the course of the past two years where are the jobs. that's a big focus of the republican leadership going forward. if indeed he becomes the house speaker. >> yep. gop needs to win the house. all right. good to see you, john decker.

>> thanks so much. what if you had a lucky lotto ticket in the hands and not given a chance to cash it in? the clerks behind the counter may be the ones making money off those winning numbers. nbc "dateline" correspondent chris hanson joins me now. you have to be kidding me. >> tonight, a brand-new "dateline" hidden camera investigation as we follow california lottery investigators as they check the honesty of their retail clerks. we're back on the road with california lottery investigators and we're about to confront some of the clerks who may have tried to steal winning tickets. our first stop is a bowling alley in san jose where three months earlier an undercover investigator presented what should have been a thousand dollar winning ticket. but that's not what the clerk told her. >> one of the employees at the bowling alley, nick garcia, told

the investigator none of them were winners when one was of those thousand dollar decoy winners. >> none of them are winners? >> no. >> no? >> it was a woman named monique that mailed in a claim for the thousand dollars. investigators have already confronted the lottery clerk nick garcia when he arrived. >> chris hanson. how are you doing? >> my goodness r. you serious? >> he appears taken aback. >> i love your show. i'm sorry. >> thank you very much. >> i'm a fan. >> appreciate that. >> i don't want -- >> garcia admits he stole the ticket but says he's never done this before. >> let me show you win thing that i think you will want to see and then we can -- >> no, no. i already confessed to everything. i know. >> so she comes in. >> no, i know. i know. >> did you know that it was a winner? >> new york city i didn't. >> but remember, it wasn't nick that tried to cash the ticket. it was that woman named monique. >> who is monique? >> that's my girlfriend. i don't want to talk about this.

>> later garcia pleads no contest to three felonies, receiving stolen property and perjury and sentenced to 45 days in jail, 3 years probation and fines. in consideration for garcia pleading to all the charges against him, the case against his girlfriend is dismissed. of more than 600 stores, they've checked all over the state, california investigators found that clerks mishandled the winning ticket more than 70 times. but a funny thing happened clear across the country. we told a lottery here in new york we wanted to see if any of its clerks are ever dishonest. the new york lottery said, it doesn't do stings like california. but wait until you see what happened when we tried to conduct our own test of new york lottery clerks. the lottery got wind of our investigation and sent out this alert to every lottery retailer in the new york area. it said, warning nbc news is trying to trick lottery retailers into stealing winning

lottery tickets. we thought that was odd so we pressed on with our investigation in new york city. and later, the new york lottery director gordon madenico not happy when we asked him to comment on the results. can i show you a video? >> no. >> don't you think it would be good to show people in new york what you are doing to protect the integrity of the lottery? >> it is more important -- >> i'm not -- >> we protect the integrity of the lottery system and most importantly protect our players. we are interested in protecting or players not creating a reality tv show. >> well, the reality is that the new york lottery director actually interfered with our investigation, veronica. we'll show you the results of the new york investigation tonight, as well. >> looking forward to that. chris, a lot of people know you from nbc's "to catch a predator." describe the look on people's faces when you approach them and say i'm chris hanson.

>> well, it's funny because sometimes they're stunned for a moment and they -- they say, wow, i have seen your shows. no matter what the investigation has been. >> but then they know they're in trouble. >> and then reality sets in. what are you doing here? we are doing an investigation into lottery clerks stealing tickets and then all of a sudden the look on their face changes. >> oh my goodness. what is your -- there's got to be funny moments attach to that. >> there are. obviously, you are, we catch some of the people taking the ticket and you can watch them because we have it on hidden camera. they look. they get excited and like, oh no, it wasn't a winner. >> oh my goodness. >> a thousand dollar winner and say you won two bucks. we show a case in texas won hundreds of thousands of dollars and the clerk took the ticket and almost got away with it. >> i can't believe this is happening. >> here's the lesson, veronica. if you play the lottery, check your tickets yourself. you can go online. there are scanners now in some states in the stores. but people generally are lazy.

they have a stack of tickets. they trust the clerk. smiling clerk they see every day at the party store. run these through the machines. sometimes the temptation is too great. >> painful lesson learned there, right? >> yeah, absolutely. >> chris, thanks so much for coming in today. >> thank you. appreciate it. >> good to see you. you can watch chris' full report "how lucky can you get?" tonight at 10:00 p.m. on your local nbc station. it is a line. you can't fire me. i quit. former jetblue flight attendant steven slater is saying just that. he exited a jetblue plane making an unusual announcement and then leaving with the help of the plane's emergency slide. the arm says he's no long we are the company. slater's lawyer said he resigned and was not fired. slater charged with reckless endoingerment and trespassing and expected in court on tuesday. well, investigators take a

step toward figuring out what caused the biggest oil spill in the nation's history. that falter preventer is out of the water. going live to the gulf. joey chestnut is known for gobbling down hot dogs and this time takes on buffalo wings and a new challenger. stay tuned. expedia lets me mix and match airlines. i can take one airline out... and another home. so with more flight options, i can find the combination that gets me there and back quickest. where you book matters. expedia. another heart attack could be lurking, waiting to strike. a heart attack that's caused by a clot, one that could be fatal. but plavix helps save lives. plavix, taken with other heart medicines goes beyond what other heart medicines do alone, to provide greater protection against heart attack or stroke and even death, by helping to keep blood platelets from sticking together and forming dangerous clots. ask your doctor if plavix is right for you.

protection that helps save lives. [ female announcer ] certain genetic factors and some medicines, such as prilosec, reduce the effect of plavix leaving you at greater risk for heart attack and stroke. your doctor may use genetic tests to determine treatment. don't stop taking plavix without talking to your doctor as your risk of heart attack or stroke may increase. people with stomach ulcers or conditions that cause bleeding should not use plavix. taking plavix alone or with some other medicines, including aspirin, may increase bleeding risk, so tell your doctor when planning surgery. tell your doctor all medicines you take, including aspirin, especially if you've had a stroke. if fever, unexplained weakness or confusion develops, tell your doctor promptly. these may be signs of ttp, a rare but potentially life-threatening condition, reported sometimes less than 2 weeks after starting plavix. other rare but serious side effects may occur. reported sometimes less than 2 weeks after starting plavix. no oil has flowed into the gulf for weeks, but it's just the beginning of our work. i'm iris cross. bp has taken full responsibility for the clean up in the gulf and that includes keeping you informed.

my job is to listen to the shrimpers and fishermen, hotel and restaurant workers and find ways to help. i was born in new orleans. my family still lives here. bp is gonna be here until the oil is gone and the people and businesses are back to normal... until we make this right. style that lasts a lifetime. what do you say we get the look we want, the soft feel we need, and have it stand up to anything we throw at it. then let's get it installed, and save money on the whole project. we're lowering the cost of going barefoot. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. get exclusive martha stewart living and platinum plus installed in your whole house for just 37 bucks. ♪ ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ ooh, ooh [ mom ] walmart checks other stores' prices so we can save on all our game time favorites.

aah! [ laughter ] [ dad ] what do you think of that, huh? [ mom ] and if there's a better price out there, they'll even match it. which means come game time, i'm just as ready as he is. go! go! yeah! [ mom ] game time costs less at walmart. save money. live better. walmart. well, after nearly 30 hours of careful work, the 300-ton device that may hold answers to the bp disaster is out of gulf waters. the blowout preventer breached the surface mostly intact and evidence in the hands of spill investigators. nbc chief environmental affairs correspondent anne thompson is in louisiana and joins us now with the latest. good morning to you, anne. >> good morning, ve ran ka. that blowout preventer is in the custody of the fbi today and will eventually make the way to the nasa facility here in new

orleans where it will be placed with all of the other evidence from the deepwater horizon rig and then federal investigators will try to figure out just why that blowout preventer failed. the blowout preventer on a deepwater well acts as an emergency brake to stop the oil flowing up if there's a malfunction in the well. it obviously did not work on april 20th and led to the death of 11 workers, the deaths of 11 workers on the deepwater horizon rig and of course the largest oil spill in american history so one of the things federal investigators want to figure out is why didn't it work? when that 1 million pound structure got on board, it was greeted by a team of fbi evidence technicians who photographed the rising and then immediately went to work

gathering evidence. also, on board the vessel was a team of bp attorneys and those two sides are expected to face off as this investigation continues. as that went up, a new one went on and with commander allen said the well no longer poses a threat to the gulf but insists that bp kill the well one more time from the bottom with cement just to make sure it never leaks again. veronica, back to you. >> anne thompson in the gulf this morning, nice to see you. thank you so much. president obama public enemy number one? at least when it comes to republican gubernatorial candidates touting the anti-obama stances. will the strategy backfire? a second attack where a total stranger walks up to a woman and throws acid in her face. what's going on? we'll ask former fbi profiler clint van zant. they're creepy and crawlie and may be in your home or

hotel. we'll have your bedbug survival guide coming up. [ female announcer ] imagine skin so healthy, it never gets dry again. can your moisturizer do that? [ female announcer ] dermatologist recommended aveeno has an oat formula, now proven to build a moisture reserve, so skin can replenish itself. that's healthy skin for life. only from aveeno. [ dog barking ] [ sniffing ] [ male announcer ] missing something? like 2 pairs of glasses for $99.99 at sears optical, with bifocal lenses for just $25 more per pair. hurry in to sears optical today and don't miss a thing.

well, good morning to you. i'm veronica de la cruz. the south texas coast bracing for tropical tomorrow hermine. eighth named storm of the season. president obama heads to milwaukee today where he'll announce a six-year infrastructure revamp plan and hoping it jump starts job creation. at least 17 killed after a suicide bombing in pakistan. it is the latest in a series of bombings to rock the country devastated by recent flooding. aaa expects labor day holiday travel up this year and according to orbitz.com those traveling by air paying 20% to 30% more for a plane ticket. passengers are paying the price for filling the plane. republican gubernatorial candidates aare going after two

opponents. the democrat in the race and president obama. joe watkins is a republican strategist and msnbc political analyst and chris cofinis is a strategist and former communication director for john edwards 2008 presidential campaign. hello to you both. >> good morning. >> good morning. >> good morning. all right, joe. let's start with you. the strategy worked for rick perry in texas and a fire-upped gop base ready to vote in november. where do you think it will work best? >> i think where democrats don't traditionally win and republicans in the past traditionally been strong. we are right now have an economy that's not quite as strong as it could be and clearly what we have are republicans who are capitalizing on democratic weaknesses. >> all right. chris, turn it over to you. most of the democratic gubernatorial candidates aren't fixtures in washington. are they doing a good enough job in the state to convince voters they have a winning platform

that might necessarily not be lock in the ep with the president? >> well, i mean, here's the reality. when you're talking about gubernatorial races, there's a real division between what voters are thinking about in terms of looking at that particular state, its economy and the national dynamics. the attempt by the republicans to kind of nationalize the governor's race is a foolish one. the reality here is what you're seeing in a lot of states. you are seeing this in florida, colorado, texas, california. this brutal gop civil war where it basically, the republican party's been forced to go to the far, far right alienating moderates and independents and giving more life and more kind of an opportunity because of that extremism. so, i don't think there's an intent to nationalize will work in the gubernatorial races. >> joe, back over the you. jan brewer, ahead in arizona and definitely had a tough week, that 16-second pause during that televised debate.

didn't look good and then that exchange on beheadings. let's take a listen. here she is after the debate. >> why wouldn't you recant the comment you've made earlier about the beheadings in the desert? >> that's a serious question, governor. >> this is an interesting meeting tonight. >> please answer the question about the headless bodies. why won't you recant that? come on, governor. >> okay. thank you all. >> oh, governor. come on. >> all right. so you know that comment she made about the beheadings in the desert and we are talking about, right? >> i do. >> how do you feel that affects her? >> you know, i think that politics you have to rebound quickly and i think that's what she'll make every effort to do. i've been in politics a long time and people make mistakes, gaffes seem like the death nail but not necessarily in this case. you have to work hard of targeting what voters are upset

about. all politics are local. while there's discontent with democrats, it's incumbent upon republicans to seize upon the issues in the local states and i think she'll come back and she'll regain the footing. >> she said she doesn't want to debate anymore and then the 16-second gaffe -- >> that's right. >> nothing to say. >> i saw that, as well. >> all right. how does she rebound from something like that? >> the way you come by is by focusing on what the key issues are and not revisiting the past mistakes. if you do, of course, then they become bigger past mistakes so she's smart to move forward and to not make a mountain out of the little mole hills. >> all right. well, we have to leave it there, gentlemen. chris and joe, thank you for joining us this morning. >> great to see you always. a woman in arizona attacked with a cup of acid on friday days after a woman in washington state assaulted in the same way. nbc's miguel amagara has their

stories. >> she just looked at me with these eyes as if she was saying something. >> reporter: from the hospital bed, dari recalls the horrifying moment ambushed and when the acid hit her face. >> but it immediately started to just burn. i was on fire. >> reporter: the 41-year-old mother says she was just outside her home in mesa, arizona, when a woman approached her in the apartment building's park lot and flung a cupful of acid add her face and attacker never said a word. >> i was screaming, somebody poured acid on me. call 911. >> reporter: it's eerilly similr to another in vancouver, washington, days before. >> i could hear it sizzling. once it hit me, i could actually hear bubbling and sizzling in my skin. >> reporter: 28-year-old bethany going to starbucks when a woman assaulted her. saying hey pretty girl, would you like to drink this? while throwing a cupful of acid into her face. >> if i saw her i would

instantly know. i would know right away. >> reporter: neither victim knew the female assailant and no arrests have been made. but in the arizona case, investigators say they think the attacker singled her out specifically. >> it appears that it's not a random act. it appears that it's someone who was waiting there for her to specifically attack her. >> i can't see myself like i used to before. >> reporter: in 2008, former british model katie piper was raped and doused with acid that left her permanent disabled and blind in one eye. >> within a split seconds the pain was so phenomenal that i knew it was a substance as strong as something like acid. >> reporter: a horrific form of attack perhaps even more disturbing because in both recent cases neither woman has any clue why she was targeted. >> in time i 50e78 going to forgive her it could have been so much worse. it could have been so much worse. i'm lucky. >> reporter: both say they're

determined to recover from their painful attacks and move on with their lives. nbc news, los angeles. all right. let's bring in nbc news analyst and former fbi profiler clint van zant. this is absolutely so scary and attack like this obviously disturbing but two of these in the same week. that's got to be unusual. do you believe that this is a copy cat crime? >> i think it was, veronica. realize on friday, also, a beauty contestant in the miss columbia, south america, contest. she was attacked in a similar manner. that may have been someone trying to just knock her out of the contest like we saw back in the mid-'90s with nancy kerrigan attacked, you know, the olympic class skater but in this particular case, we have got it appears to be two different motives. the attack in washington state looks like it may have been someone under the influence of drugs or narcotics or alcohol or

something like that or perhaps a mental illness because that was so random. where this second attack that we're making reference to, this second woman who was attacked in arizona, her assailant waited by her parking spot at her apartment building for her to come home. so that was targeted. even though she didn't know that assailant, it appears someone put her up to it for an act of anger, revenge. something, some motive along that line. >> thankfully, acid attacks aren't particularly common in this country. where do most of these incidents occur? >> well, they can occur across the country. realize it's really not hard to get ast id. i'm not going to conduct a seminar where to find acid but most of us know you can buy it in stores of different levels of acidity. cleaning purposes. so it's really not that hard to get but i think the motive, realize, you know, this is our

face. this is how i say hello to people and for a woman, of course, this means much more. you know, we spend billions of dollars on makeup, women do across this country. so who better knows than another woman the source of pride that a woman may take in her face? to attack that, one woman to another, i mean, veronica, these are not just physical scars. these are emotional scars that last a person's entire life and it may lead them to, number one, isolate themselves from others and number two seeing women commit suicide because they're so devastated by what happened to them. >> and you know, these can be completely random attacks. so honestly, what can people do to protect themselves from these types of attacks, if anything? >> well, you know, we can't go around thinking somebody's going to throw acid in our face. otherwise, we would have 55-gallon buckets of water sitting on every street corner to run and dunk our head in and

splash that off again. what law enforcement has to do is identify the perpetrators and as far as i'm concerned, these crimes considered attempted murder. we should prosecute someone as if they tried to kill the physical being because actually what they have really done is to kill the spirit of many victims. >> clint, a former fbi profiler, clint, thank you so much for your time today. nice to see you, sir. >> thank you. well, joran van der sloot is talking to a website. he says the life in aly ma prison includes contact with the guards, sometimes giving them english lessons. he says he's put the family through a painful ordeal and took money from the holloway family to get back at them for pressing for his arrest. how the latest attack waves affects the taliban and the war on terror. there's a nurse who can access in an instant every patient's past.

and because the whole hospital's working together, there's a family who can breathe easy, right now. somewhere in america, we've already answered some of the nation's toughest healthcare questions. and the over 60,000 people of siemens are ready to do it again. siemens. answers. no oil has flowed into the gulf for weeks, but it's just the beginning of our work. i'm iris cross.

bp has taken full responsibility for the clean up in the gulf and that includes keeping you informed. my job is to listen to the shrimpers and fishermen, hotel and restaurant workers and find ways to help. that means working with communities. we have 19 centers in 4 states. we've made over 120,000 claims payments, more than $375 million. we've committed $20 billion to an independent claims fund to cover lost income until people impacted can get back to work. we'll keep looking for oil, cleaning it up if we find it and restoring the gulf coast. i was born in new orleans. my family still lives here. bp is gonna be here until the oil is gone and the people and businesses are back to normal... until we make this right.

we're following the

developing news out of the pakistan are where a suicide bombing killed 17 and wounded more than 40 others. the taliban claimed responsibility. it happened outside a police station and in a town vital to the fight against the pakistani taliban. msnbc military analyst jack jacobs joins us now to tell us what this means for the region. hello. good to see you again. >> good to see you again. >> what does this mean for the region? >> nothing good i can tell you that. the problem with pakistan is that it's extremely weak politically. it's fragmented politically. the military's always on the verge of conducting a coupe and governed by the military on and off for a long time. the floods there that have devastated the country stretched the country to its limit. it perceives that its real adversary is not the taliban but india and a large proportion of its activity is on the border with india. all bad. >> after all of this flooding, what are militants trying to

accomplish here? >> great opportunity for them to step into the breach. particularly in the northwest areas. people perceive that the government is either weak or incapable. this is just going to -- the floods, the devastation there's going to reinforce that perception and in local areas, the militants move in and they provide an alternative government, alternative capability for people to control their lives. it's just an opening for the bad guys to take charge of areas particularly in the northwest that are extremely difficult to control at the best of times. >> what does the government do in the meantime? obviously, the pakistani government is stretched so thin at this point. >> they have to move more forces in but more than that they have to move more money in. empower the local leaders to control their own areas and in order to do that, they have to bring some forces away from the border with india and to areas devastated to assist the people. they don't have a history of doing that and i'm afraid this is not going to be very good for

the government of pakistan. not going to help it any. >> we were talking about this in the last hour and the u.s. is leaving afghanistan in 2011. and we're going to switch gears with this for two seconds because what is it? i believe that they're going to pledge $6 billion -- >> yeah. >> and police. that's a far cry from the, what? $11.5 billion that we've spent this year alone. >> 50% cut, you're right. >> are we spending enough money? >> well, we're not never going to spend enough money and employ enough troops. the man in charge of that, bill caldwell, who i remember as a cadet at west point is a very, very capable guy. combat experience and very, very smart. and he knows how to integrate government and the use of the military. the trouble is we don't have enough time. we're taking people out starting july of next year and i don't

think it leaves enough time for caldwell to do what he needs to do. >> it's all too soon? >> all too soon. >> try to enjoy the rest of your labor day monday. >> will do it. u.s. troops under fire in afghanistan. that news topping in our world view this morning. the attack in the kandahar province with a fire fight over an hour. rocket-propelled grenades and mortars but no u.s. injuries rains triggered mud slides in guatemala. rescue crews searching for bodies. at least 38 people have been killed and some 15 landslides in the country. one involving a partially buried bus. officials believe the death toll could rise to more than 100 people. well, today marks the start of month two under ground for 33 trapped chilean miners. relatives sunday gathered in support of the loved ones waving

banners and flags near the mine site. they send food, medicine and letters of relatives through narrow plastic tubes to the men below. good night, sleep tight. watch out for those bedbugs biting. your survival guide and a website to find out where they're crawling straight ahead. ♪ ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ ooh, ooh [ mom ] walmart checks other stores' prices so we can save on all our game time favorites. aah! [ laughter ] [ dad ] what do you think of that, huh? [ mom ] and if there's a better price out there, they'll even match it. which means come game time, i'm just as ready as he is. go! go! yeah! [ mom ] game time costs less at walmart. save money. live better. walmart. [ male announcer ] we asked zyrtec® users what they love about their allergy relief, and what it lets them do. the thing i love most about zyrtec® is that it allows me to be outside.

[ male announcer ] we bet you'll love zyrtec®, too -- or it's free. [ vonetta ] it is countdown to marshmallow time. [ woman laughs ] plus the choice of every etf, 5-star service, and unmatched trading tools. there's price. there's value. don't confuse the two. e-trade. investing unleashed. ♪ [ male announcer ] it's a symbol of confidence... ♪ ...honor... ♪ ...and trust. an unspoken bond that, while common among men... ♪ ...is exceedingly rare among companies. the ram 60-day handshake. ram.

flu shot season is under way and doctors want to make sure everyone eligible has the opportunity to get vaccinated. last year's swine flu scare had lines up around the block and even without that fear the centers for disease control is urging all americans except babies younger than 6 months to get a shot and a new high dose vaccine for people 65 years or older. well, they seem to be everywhere this summer. bedbugs. here in new york city bedbugs in movie theaters, retail stores

and the empire state building. but there are cases popping up all over the country. so the big question is how can we prevent them from invading our homes? carmen reno joins us from pest control. we were talking during the break. they're all over new york city. but now, they're in other places across the country bring? >> yes. >> huh. really? okay. so what do you do when you realize you are attacked by bedbugs? >> call a licensed pest control company. get them out there. don't go online. don't read stuff and start bombing. get someone out, do the preparation steps to get rid of the problem. >> what are you looking for? >> looking for blood spots, you can see live insects, bites on the body. some people react. some don't. make sure and don't ignore it. >> well, i mean, so you can actually see these things? >> yes, you can see them. about the size of a tick. >> about the size of a tick. how do you avoid a bedbug

infestation. movie theatetheaters, hotels. >> don't ignore the signs. you want to watch where your put your luggage and your purse sitting down on buses and trains and movie theaters. >> what do you do in a movie theater? not much you can do, right? >> might say leave your purse in the car because they're more likely to travel on belongings than people. >> okay. so you don't have to worry about your clothes or -- >> they will crawl into the clothes but more likely for a bag. theaters are a problem because you're there for a couple hours. they're nocturnal. >> when you travel? >> wash all of your clothes when you come home no matter what. i recommend steaming your luggage and not keeping it in your bedroom. >> what do you do at home with your bed? are there any special precautions there? >> purchase encasements in case you come across bedbugs.

won't cost you the cost of replacing. look for blood spots. stuff along those lines to see what's going on. >> i'm itching just thinking about it and talking about it. we appreciate your time today. >> thank you. >> there is a website out there. it is bedbegregistry.com for more information. this weekend marked the start of the college football season and what an end to this game. check this out. tulsa leading four points and five seconds on the clock. ecu quarterback threw a pass to jones and time expired. he got the td and the win. and then for baseball, the double play worth a double take. take a look at this. phillies' shortstop rollins flips it from the glove to chase utley for the double play. but it wasn't enough for the win. the phillies lost by four to the brewers. and it was an impressive showdown at the national buffalo

wing festival in new york. champion eater joey chestnut headlined a chicken wing eating contest devouring the most wings in seven minutes. in the end the professional eater could not gobble up the competition. he lost to a woman. oh. beaten by a girl. she's known as the black widow sonja thomas. maybe next year. and that's going to do it for me. thomas roberts picks it up next among the stories following, a new tropical storm formed in the gulf setting the sites on mexico and texas. plus, why one group says anti-bullying campaigns in schools promotes who no sexuality. we'll explain that one after the break.

♪ ♪ one, two, three, four ♪ you say ♪ flip it over and replay ♪ we'll make everything okay ♪ walk together the right way ♪ do, do, do, do no oil has flowed into the gulf for weeks, but it's just the beginning of our work. i'm iris cross. bp has taken full responsibility for the clean up in the gulf and that includes keeping you informed. my job is to listen to the shrimpers and fishermen, hotel and restaurant workers and find ways to help.

i was born in new orleans. my family still lives here. bp is gonna be here until the oil is gone and the people and businesses are back to normal... until we make this right.

there is a new tropical storm swirling in the gulf of mexico and headed straight for texas. plus, getting some answers. investigators have the evidence. now they just need to find out